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Digital Product Passport in Furniture and Construction: In-Depth Guide to the Biggest Shift of the Decade

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Digital Product Passport in Furniture and Construction: In-Depth Guide to the Biggest Shift of the Decade
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The Digital Product Passport (DPP) in Furniture and Construction: In-Depth Guide for Professionals and Brands

The real estate, furniture, and construction sectors are about to experience the biggest regulatory change of the decade in terms of transparency and sustainability: the Digital Product Passport (DPP). If you work in real estate, interior design, architecture, development, furniture manufacturing, or project management, what you’ll read below will impact your daily work, your processes, and even how you communicate the value of your products and services.

What is the Digital Product Passport (DPP) and Why Does It Affect You Starting 2025

The Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a new mandatory digital tool that collects essential information about the composition, origin, lifecycle, and sustainability of a product. It will impact furniture, construction materials, textiles, batteries, and a long list of products marketed in the European Union, both for European manufacturers and for importers or global supply chain managers. According to the latest guidelines from the "ESPR Working Plan 2025-2030" and the European regulation (source: KNOWRON: Digital Product Passport Guide), the DPP will initially be mandatory for construction materials and furniture starting in 2027 (with a key deadline in April 2025 to prepare data and processes).

The core idea is simple: to provide each product with a unique digital “biography,” accessible via a code (like a QR), containing all essential information that was previously opaque and invisible to professionals, consumers, or supply chain managers.

  • Material composition and origin
  • Sustainability and carbon footprint (including PCF: Product Carbon Footprint)
  • Repairability and recyclability
  • Manufacturing history and supply chain
  • Environmental and social certifications

With the DPP, the EU aims for a more efficient and greener market, empowering architects, builders, designers, owners, agents, and buyers to better compare, choose, and rethink every component of a space.

Which Products Will Include DPP and What Are the Key Dates?

The regulation is progressive, but the first industries affected will be

  • Construction materials (wood, concrete, steel, composite products, windows, doors, flooring, paints, adhesives)
  • Furniture and furniture components
  • Appliances, batteries, textiles, electronics

Key dates: - By 2025: deadline to prepare internal reporting structures and processes (audits, PLM, materials traceability).

  1. 2025-2026: first public regulatory guidelines and DPP pilots. Manufacturers and designers should start data collection and digitization.
  2. April 2025: documentation compliance deadline for new products in key sectors.
  3. 2027: actual enforcement date for furniture and construction. DPP mandatory to sell, import, or distribute in the EU.

This timeline gives you just enough time to:

  • Review technical sheets and data of your products
  • Identify gaps in environmental and social information
  • Improve data integration between suppliers and clients

Practical tip: If today you struggle to locate the origin of your raw materials, now is the time to demand it from your suppliers and prepare your business for the future.

What Should the DPP Include in Furniture, Construction and Design

The digital passport won’t be simply an “online label.” It is a robust, updatable database aligned with what the circular economy demands. According to specialists (source: Climatiq Blog: Digital Product Passports 2025), you should gather and verify at least the following information:

  • Materials and components: detailed list, percentages, and origin
  • Repairability data: spare parts, repair instructions, and estimated time
  • Reuse and recycling: recyclability rates, disassembly instructions
  • Calculated carbon footprint (Product Carbon Footprint, PCF)
  • Environmental and social certificates: such as FSC for wood, eco-labels, ethical audits
  • Ownership and maintenance history for reusable or rental products

Additionally, you will need to easily integrate this information into digital catalogs, PLM, marketplaces, BIM project documentation, and other online channels.

How the DPP Affects Brands, Manufacturers, Designers and Architects

From a strategic point of view, the DPP profoundly changes how you present and sell a good or project. Based on my experience coordinating design and production projects for European firms, here are the main impacts and challenges for each role:

  • Brands and manufacturers: They will need to systematize data collection for materials, processes, and suppliers. Investing in flexible PLM solutions and transparent supply chain relationships will be key.
  • Interior designers and architects: They will have access to objective sustainability and safety data directly from the product, without relying on a sales representative’s word. This will bring transparency to tenders, specifications, and client proposals.
  • Real estate agents and developers: They will be able to showcase sustainable attributes and lifecycle data of a property with verified data, strengthening their sales pitch.

Ethically, it also marks the beginning of the end of greenwashing: what is communicated as “eco” or “sustainable” will be backed by comparable data and standards (source: Circularise: DPPs required by EU legislation).

Practical Benefits: Transparency, Sales, Innovation, and New Brand Narrative

Implementing the DPP opens vast opportunities to differentiate yourself. Personal example: working with a mid-range furniture brand, we gained access to premium hotel projects only after showing, passport in hand, the certified origin of every wood piece and the recyclability rate. For many, the digital passport will become the “new passport to high-value markets” in Europe and other countries soon to adopt it.

  • Increase brand trust and reputation: Public projects, hotels, and large firms will always demand verifiable data, not just promises.
  • Reduce contractual and post-sale risks: With traceable data, errors from incorrect specs are minimized and claim handling time is saved.
  • Internationalization strategies: DPP will soon become a requirement to participate in fairs, tenders, and European markets.
  • Facilitates storytelling and visual content: Previously hidden attributes become creative selling points (videos, images, interactive data).

Visualization, catalog generation, and digital management tools like those offered by Deptho will gain even more importance as you need to manage thousands of references and their ESG (environmental and social) credentials visually and comprehensibly.

Step-by-Step Checklist to Start Preparing Now: From Data Gathering to Visual Marketing

  1. Conduct an information audit: Do you have data about materials, suppliers, carbon footprint, recyclability, and certifications gathered and digitized? Do it now (source: Sherwen: DPP compliance 2025).
  2. Identify information gaps in your products and request critical data from suppliers (exact origin, emissions, certifications, repairability).
  3. Internal process review: Does your current catalog, stock, or PLM software allow integration of DPP fields?
  4. Train (or find partners to train) your commercial and sales team on how to communicate the new value proposition based on transparency.
  5. Start planning your upcoming projects by co-creating visual storytelling supported by DPP datasheets: images, diagrams, comparisons, and renders highlighting sustainability attributes.

The key is not to see the DPP as a “legal burden” but as an opportunity to transform your relationship with clients and the sector ecosystem itself. Brands that make the leap first will gain reputation and access to premium projects.

10 Common Mistakes You Can Avoid When Implementing the DPP

  1. Thinking that “this only affects big brands.” All companies and suppliers, regardless of size, will be part of the chain.
  2. Waiting until the deadline to search for or upload data. This could abruptly collapse your sales flow.
  3. Leaving origin or recyclability fields blank or “to be completed.” This will cause delays at customs, tenders, and competitions.
  4. Neglecting interoperable digital format (PDF is not enough; you will need APIs, connected databases).
  5. Skipping training your team on new technological, legal, and visual communication skills.
  6. Underestimating the management (or security) of sensitive data shared with third parties.
  7. Thinking supplier data alone is enough: you will have to verify evidence, links, certifications, and third-party audits.
  8. Disregarding marketing impact: without visual and numeric storytelling, the DPP is just a technical burden and not a competitive advantage.
  9. Not considering frequent DPP updates: a product can have improvements or changes after its launch.
  10. Not communicating the benefits early enough to clients or end users, preventing them from perceiving progress and differentiation (and charging less because of it).

The experience of pioneering manufacturers shows that the sooner you invest in systematizing and communicating, the less friction you will have and the better you will capitalize on the new European standard.

DPP and the Future of Custom Design, Interior Design and Responsible Architecture

A detail often overlooked: the DPP will not hinder creativity for designers or architects but will elevate custom and made-to-measure design to new levels of trust and traceability. They choose materials or pieces for aesthetics but will now also be able to quickly identify those meeting safety, longevity, emissions, and certification parameters without losing creative agility.

In interior design, visualizing material comparisons and environmental impact will be as quick as opening a digital moodboard in a video call. The result: more transparent, competitive proposals aligned with clients and generations demanding more with less impact.

Digital Innovation, AI, and Advanced Visualization: The Ally of the DPP Transition

Managing large volumes of product data, validations, images, and effective storytelling requires cutting-edge digital tools. Visual management platforms like Selecta by Deptho, allow linking hyperrealistic product information and visualizations with key attributes. Thus, every datasheet, infographic, and sales proposal is enhanced to become a solid, easy-to-understand sales argument for anyone.

Other functions, such as image enhancement and quick visual variant creation (very useful in multi-country DPP catalogs), can be carried out with platforms like Upscale. The future is visual and transparent: seize this window of opportunity to position your brand, product, or project as a pioneer and a benchmark of the new circular era.

Conclusion: The DPP as a Driver of Sectoral Change, Competitiveness, and Real Transparency

Every day, more professionals look to differentiate themselves by delivering real and visible value to clients and end users. The Digital Product Passport becomes the new standard, and far from being a barrier, it is a master key to innovation, profitability, and direct connection to the greatest challenges of our time. If you want to share your personal experience, questions, or need help integrating DPP visualization and data in your creative process, write to us or check other posts on our blog.

Interested in learning how to prepare visualization and storytelling of your products in the new DPP context? Discover more at Deptho, explore our free resources, and test how AI can transform the way you present your sustainable catalog.